Starting Over Again

Uconn Women Taking First Step Of 1993-94

Lobo, Rizzotti Lead 7 Returnees

STORRS — The UConn women's basketball team took Friday off, a rarity since early September when lifting weights and informal pickup games became as common as English class.

The rest probably had to do with getting ready for the first official practice of the season today. A three-hour workout -- closed to the public -- is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Gampel Pavilion. Hell Week at the fraternities can be worse, but not by much.

"It was the worst day of my life," sophomore forward Jamelle Elliott said of opening day last year. "I hurt all over."

And the Huskies hurt much of last season, largely because of the unexpected high number of minutes many had to play after injuries and defections left the team with eight scholarship players.

Despite the shortage of players, tenacity helped UConn to an 18-11 record, third place in the Big East Conference and a fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. And that quality was present in recent pickup games.

Elliott, a member of the Big East All-Rookie team last season, demonstrated continued exuberance with putbacks and an occasional stray elbow. All-Big East forward/center Rebecca Lobo blocked shots and hit jumpers, and guards Jennifer Rizzotti, co-rookie of the year, and Pam Webber had floor burns.

That foursome is what coach Geno Auriemma calls his core players for this season, with Tonya Boone, Kim Better and Colleen Healy the other returnees who must find their niches.

And then there's heralded freshmen Kara Wolters, Carla Berube, Shea Matlock, Sue Mayo and Missy Rose. Auriemma said the group has the potential to be one of UConn's best recruiting classes, but is quick to add, "They've done nothing here so far. They're all 0-0."

Trying to work those five into the big picture will be a major project for Auriemma and his staff, which includes new assistants

Meghan Pattyson and Wendy Davis, former co-captains. The three, plus associate head coach Chris Dailey, spent two days this week watching game films and planning the preseason regimen.

"For the first year in several years, there's potentially eight, nine, 10 players who are capable of contributing [consistently]," Auriemma said. "The key is to find out if [the returnees] are where we envisioned them to be a year later and where the freshmen fit in.

"We've always asked our freshmen to contribute, so we put a lot of emphasis on getting them involved. How they fit in generally determines the success of our team. We have to find out how much this group knows, relative to the people coming back."

Unfortunately for Auriemma, the Huskies already have taken on a look of the 1992-93 team. Pickup games usually have included only nine players, as three freshmen spent most of the past two months in the training room.

Wolters, at 6 foot 7 the tallest player in the history of the program, and Mayo are recovering from off-season surgery, and Rose has been hampered by a pulled right hamstring. Wolters, who shoots right-handed, had surgery on her right shoulder and hasn't played since April. Mayo, who had a knee operation, had a magnetic resonance imaging this week.

Wolters and Rose will see limited action today, and Mayo will be out until the results of the MRI are known. The three hope to be ready for the season opener Nov. 27 at home against Colgate.

But the presence of the largest recruiting class since Pattyson and Davis were freshmen in 1988-89 has Auriemma and his staff taking a different approach. The increased numbers have them considering more pressure on defense, but they don't want to employ those tactics in the early going.

"We want to get back to some simple things that the young kids can feel confident about, as opposed to rushing into the hard stuff," Auriemma said. "Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, so we're taking it from the standpoint that we need to go slow.

"We're not going to worry about what we have in and don't have in by the first few games. We just want to make sure that what we do have in we execute well. We don't want to get so into it that we have to back off because we're overwhelmed.

"With the luxury of having 12 players, I know we're going to play pretty good defense, but in the next four weeks, I want to find out what kind of offensive players we have. And I want to make sure the older guys don't rest on their laurels and the new guys don't feel they're just along for the ride.